Civil war has broken out in the Liberal Democrats after Lord Rennard turned his guns on the party’s leadership over its handling of the sexual harassment claims against him.

The peer released a 2,600-word statement in which he refused to apologise to the women who made claims against him. He also attacked Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, and the Lib Dems for helping to create a “lynch mob mentality” against him which forced him and his wife “into hiding”. In an attempt to stop an embarrassing challenge to Nick Clegg’s authority, the Lib Dems suspended the peer to prevent him taking his seat on the Government benches in the House of Lords.

In an attempted show of strength, Mr Clegg had said that Lord Rennard should not return to the Upper House until he said sorry, saying bluntly: “No apology, no whip.” He claimed Lord Rennard should apologise as a matter of “basic decency” and that readmitting him to the parliamentary party without an apology would be “in defiance” of his authority.

Mr Clegg’s actions left him open to a major clash with his own peers, many of whom are known to sympathise with Lord Rennard. Peers warned of a “huge chasm” in the party with the opposing sides “standing behind their own lines chucking grenades” at each other. In his statement, Lord Rennard urged the Lib Dems to “let the matter rest” and claimed that he had not “met with or heard” from Mr Clegg in 11 months. He disclosed that he threatened to sue the Lib Dems if the party attempted to change its rules so that an inquiry into his actions would not require a criminal burden of proof.

Lord Rennard said that Lord Carlile, his friend and legal adviser, helped him to force the party to conduct an inquiry “as prescribed in the rules”. He voiced his “regret” if the women had been hurt, embarrassed or upset by anything he did. However, he prompted fury by saying that he would not apologise for something he had not done as it could leave him “defenceless” in any future civil action.

He complained that, contrary to the Liberal Democrats’ rules, he has not been allowed to see a copy of a report into the allegations by a lawyer.

Lord Rennard said neither Mr Clegg nor anyone from the party asked him for his version of events before calling in police to look into the complaints. He said he had damaged his health and suffered “severe stress, anxiety and depression” due to the strain of working for the Lib Dems for 27 years, and stepped down as chief executive in 2009 following medical advice that he was entering “a high-risk zone for a stroke or heart attack”.

Lord Rennard said that he was first told by the party in 2008 that reporters were asking questions about alleged “inappropriate behaviour”, but that no complaints were made at this stage and he was not given the women’s names. He told the party he “had never acted inappropriately and would certainly not want to cause anyone any embarrassment”, but decided that the “whispering campaign” against him meant he should not play a big role in the 2010 general election campaign or the referendum on the alternative vote.

Following the election, he offered to meet the party president at the time, Baroness Scott, to seek “closure of any issue” but was told that neither wanted to make any complaint or have any action taken.

The peer said that the next he heard was in the autumn of 2012, when he learnt of a Channel 4 News investigation, eventually broadcast a week before the Eastleigh by-election in February 2013, forced by the resignation of Chris Huhne.

One of the women featured then went to the police on the eve of the poll. “I was subjected to a humiliating trial by media and a 'lynch mob’ mentality from some in the party who knew none of the facts,” said Lord Rennard. He said that he and his wife Ann were forced “into hiding”.

Lord Rennard strongly criticised the Lib Dems’ handling of the scandal in the last 12 months. The peer said he made a formal offer of mediation in October last year, but this was rejected by the complainants. A subsequent inquiry by Alistair Webster QC, a senior barrister, last week found that although the women’s claims were “credible”, they could not be proved beyond reasonable doubt. He said the party refused to give him a copy on the grounds it would breach data protection laws. “I have been advised firmly that there is no legal basis for refusing me a copy of the report in appropriately confidential circumstances,” he said.

Lord Rennard said that he regretted the “wounds that have opened up” in the Lib Dems “because many people have acted without being aware of the facts”.

The peer called on Mr Clegg “to let me help him and my party again in future”.

Lord Greaves, a Lib Dem peer, said the party should set up a Northern Ireland-style “peace and reconciliation process” or face being damaged “for a generation”. “Each side is standing behind their own lines chucking grenades at the other and there is absolutely no dialogue going on,” he said.